Oakland jurist recuses himself in case against Novi judge MacKenzie

Dec. 9, 2013

Novi District Judge Brian MacKenzie, shown in March 2010, has been under fire since late November when Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper filed a 238-page complaint with the county circuit court asking a judge there to take control of cases she believes MacKenzie has mishandled. / Kathleen Galligan/Detroit Free Press

Written by

L.L. Brasier and John Wisely

Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman recused himself this afternoon from hearing a complaint filed against Novi District Judge Brian MacKenzie, saying he could not be fair.

MacKenzie has been under fire since late November when Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper filed a 238-page complaint with the county circuit court asking a judge there to take control of cases she believes MacKenzie has mishandled.

Cooper accused MacKenzie of breaking the law by falsifying court records, improperly dismissing cases and concealing public documents.

Bowman, in recusing himself, said he felt he could not be imparitial.

“My very, very close friendship with the Oakland County prosecutor and my friendship with Judge MacKenzie require that I recuse myself,” Bowman said. “It’s a motion by one friend against another.”

MacKenzie was not present for the hearing. His attorney, John Lynch, said MacKenzie looks forward to confronting the allegations.

“Judge MacKenzie has detailed explanations in the allegations set forth, specific allegations to defend and detail,” Lynch said. “Judge MacKenzie is very proud of the reputation he has built and intends to sustain it in these proceedings.”

The case now will be reassigned to another judge through a blind draw.

Cooper filed the lawsuit after discovering cases she said MacKenzie mishandled and then sealed, according to the complaint.

“District Judge Brian MacKenzie has been secretly setting aside valid convictions entered in plaintiff’s cases ... taking pleas on misdemeanor cases and then subsequently setting the sentences for dates when no assistant prosecutor is present,” she said in the complaint.

MacKenzie then would take the conviction “under advisement,” meaning he would dismiss it if the defendant stayed out of trouble and order the case be made non-public. Such deals require a prosecutor’s approval, which Cooper says was not given.

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Once the cases were dismissed, Cooper claims, the court records were “fabricated” to make it look as though the prosecutor had agreed to the dismissal.

Cooper is asking that the Oakland County Circuit Court correct MacKenzie’s actions and her office be allowed to review his cases dating back 10 years. Cooper also is asking that the higher court order MacKenzie’s court clerk to stop reporting that prosecutors are present at hearings when they aren’t.

In the complaint, filed on Nov. 26, Cooper said her office came across the irregularities through “serendipity,” and began reviewing MacKenzie’s cases.

In one case, a man was charged with reckless driving and assault and battery after engaging in a road-rage incident in which he drove his vehicle toward two individuals and used a gay slur, according to the complaint. He pleaded guilty, but MacKenzie — using a spousal abuse law that allows judges to delay sentencing — eventually dismissed the conviction without telling prosecutors, the complaint alleged.

In another case, MacKenzie is accused of delaying the sentence for a man who pleaded no contest to a second offense of domestic violence after he was accused of beating his girlfriend and tearing out her hair extensions. A second conviction allows for a stiffer sentence, but MacKenzie placed the man on probation and eventually dismissed the case without consulting with prosecutors — despite saying on the record that prosecutors had agreed, the complaint said.

In granting a dismissal, MacKenzie told the defendant: “This is my gift to you,” according to a copy of the transcript attached to the complaint.